House subcommittee votes to slash NASA

Today the U.S. House of Representative subcommittee charged with appropriating funds to NASA mandated a draconian cut of almost $2 billion from the space agency's proposed budget.

How will NASA deal with the cut?

Get this: Gone will be the James Webb Space Telescope. Commercial spaceflight to take crews to Earth orbit will be cut by more than half. Earth science will be hit hard, and if you hope to see NASA launch another flagship mission to the planets, it won't happen -- if this budget makes it into law.

What is causing such carnage? It's not just the weakened U.S. economy. It's the giant Space Launch System, a rocket legislated by Congress and signed into law by the President. It's got no destination and no mission to fulfill.

The Space Launch System, under the proposed appropriations bill, will see its funding increased above the original budget request. It this rational? To gut productive NASA programs for the sake of a launch system without a mission?

The Space Launch System is plowing through NASA, leaving a mess behind. This budget will spell disaster for space exploration, now and for generations to come.

Thank you to all our Planetary Society Members and supporters who picked up the phone today and called Rep. Wolf. We know you were heard.

Now, we need to kick it up a notch. The full committee meets next week, stay tuned here, in Facebook, and on Twitter for news on how you can take action to save the U.S. space program!